


Strenght

by brightasstars



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Ghost of the Shadowmarket, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Demons, Family Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt Magnus Bane, Immortal Alec Lightwood, Immortal parents, M/M, Missing Persons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightasstars/pseuds/brightasstars
Summary: They are married and immortal but they still have to face unknown enemies.Which kind of strenght will you need when you're about to lose what you treasure the most?
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 11
Kudos: 68
Collections: Shadowhunters Tarot Challenge





	Strenght

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Tarot Fic Challenge - Prompt Card Strenght - "Strenght is not necessarly always about a show of force..." 
> 
> If you like to get into the mood with the song I've referred to, listen to "City of Stars" - La La Land Movie Official Soundtrack

"Magnus! You have to come here! Portal now!"

Izzy's voice had seemed worried and maybe a bit... cracked? Anyway, whatever it had been, it seemed urgent.

Magnus exhaled. It had already been al long day of fixing wards and seeing delegates since Alec had been gone for a week.

He felt tired but he was glad at the same time. If Izzy was back, Alec should be back too.

_If she's so messed up, I can't imagine the mess Alec will be into... not even taking a moment to call me himself._

"Rafe?" Magnus was searching for his elder son around the loft. Max was inside the apothecary, trying to mix potions.

"Pa?"

"I'm needed at the Guard. They're back, Izzy called me, so I suppose Jace training class should take place. Be sure to have dinner before you two go to the evening lesson ok? Max can..."

"...conjure it. I know Pa. We are big enough to take care of ourselves. Go. We'll see you both later."

Magnus smiled at his son. Their boys were growing up and they were becoming smarter and more independent by the second.

He checked himself in the mirror at the entrance one more time before leaving.

He decided to change his shirt into one of Alec's favorites, the deep purple one he loved so much.

His husband had been missing for a week now.

Magnus had got used to that since Alec had never wanted to quit going on missions even when he had become the Consul.

He used to say that he wanted to keep in touch with people if he was supposed to look after them and to make decisions for them.

He wanted to understand and have knowledge of the problems they faced during their ordinary duties.

He wanted to share opinions, ideas, and perspectives.

Alec believed that the laws were made for men, not men for laws.

So he felt the need to be close to those men and women that worked so hard to keep the Shadow World united and in peace.

They had built a new Academy in Alicante for Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike, where they could learn to fight together and share abilities, powers, and lifespan.

Since Clary had discovered that alliance rune, Magnus and Alec had used it for the better.

They had even changed the parabatai bond so that Shadowhunters and Downworlders could also share parts of their souls.

Still, even after all these years, Magnus missed Alec each moment he wasn't there beside him.

\---- x ----

"Here I am" Magnus said stepping out of the blue portal.

He wasn't expecting to find a crowd of Shadowhunters and Downworlders staring at him with lost eyes.

_Why are they all staring at me?_

"Come on, tell me. It must be something serious if you need my help even with all these warlocks here."

Magnus at the beginning still seemed unbeknownst. Then, since no one was speaking, he realized that, maybe, something was wrong.

"...unless... Where is Alec?" his stomach twitched and his voice lowered.

"Everybody clear the room", Jace approached him with Izzy.

"W_H_E_R_E I_S A_L_E_C?"

Magnus asked once again, revolving his body to look at Jace, Izzy, and Clary.

"We've lost him", Jace answered.

Magnus raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean by you have lost him?"

"We couldn't find him anymore on our way back. He was right beside me when we entered into the portal, then... he disappeared...", Jace didn't know what to tell Magnus.

Magnus let out a gasp of pain.

"Can you feel him?" his voice had come out breathy as if he was doing some sort of physical effort.

"He's not dead if it's this you wanted to hear. I can't feel him the way I usually do, but he's not dead". Jace had tried to keep his voice as steady as he could, even if he was scared.

"Have you? Of course, you have already tried to track him, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I did. Twice. But we could try with..."

"Don't even think about that Jace. Alec would kill us both."

"Magnus, help me track him through the bond, please".

"I recklessly helped Alec doing that foolish thing twice, and I won't do that ever again. Alec is carrying my magic signature inside and outside, I'll try with warlock tracking."

Magnus enveloped the wedding ring with his magic. He could feel Alec was alive.

Then a blast hit him and threw him on the floor, leaving him breathless and bewildered.

"MAGNUS!" they all shouted gathering around him and kneeling at his side.

Magnus was sweating and panting, his eyes were wide and he seemed terrified.

"Magnus? What is it? Is Alec...?" Jace's voice was trembling.

Magnus looked at him.

"No. I... could feel him, but as I tried to reach for him, some powerful magic raised its wards, not allowing my magic to get to him."

"Let me try with the bond Magnus, please." Jace pleaded him.

"Listen, Jace. Whoever has Alec right now has a magic which is..." he paused "...similar to my father's signature... part demonic, part angelic..." his voice barely a whisper.

"A...Asmodeus is back?" Jace muttered.

"I said it's similar...not his...it's a fallen angel."

"A...what?" Jace shouted. "How many of them are still around? I thought that..."

"They all live in different demonic dimensions Jace. Edom was just one of those. They all have different Thrones, different realms".

Magnus' voice was sad now, as awareness was sinking into him.

He raised up.

"The demon is craving for something. I would go, but where to? I need to find where they are. Where he has taken Alec. I need to check his office to find if Alec was up to something...NO! The boys. I have to tell them first before they find out from the others. They should be still having dinner..." he waved his hand in the air.

"Need help?" Jace told him as he grabbed his arm.

"Maybe later, Jace. Thanks. I might need to leave them, but now..." his voice was broken with sorrow.

"Oh, Magnus..." Izzy hugged him.

\----x----

"Pa, Dad? Are you back? It has been quick", Max asked without raising his head from the plate.

Rafe was eating his eggs and checking his phone.

"Dad, why has uncle Jace canceled the evening training lesson if you're back?" he asked while scrolling the finger on the screen.

Magnus was looking at them and forced himself to hold back the tears.

How was he supposed to find the right words to tell them that Alec wasn't back? That he didn't know if he'll ever be back.

Since no one was answering, the boys raised their heads and looked at each other, puzzled.

"Pa?" Max turned his head and dropped the fork instantly on the plate as he met his father's eyes.

Rafe looked at Magnus and did the same.

"Pa?" his voice expressing all his growing concern.

Magnus was staring at them in silence, trying to gather his thoughts and find the right words.

"Where is Dad?" Rafe asked staring at him as his cheeks were growing paler and his eyes were widening in fear.

Magnus inhaled deeply.

"He's... missing..."

Rafe's eyes instantly filled with tears as Max ran to Magnus and hugged him.

"How... how is it possible that he's missing?" Max was squeaking between the sobs.

"I... can't we track him Pa?", his body was moving against Magnus, trying to wake his dad from that sort of trance he seemed in.

"I will fight them, kill them. I...I..."

Magnus hugged him back.

"Calm down blueberry. We all need to."

Then he raised his head and looked at Rafe, who was still sitting at the table, with his head in his hands.

Magnus' heart clenched.

He pulled back from Max's embrace and closed the distance between them.

"Querido... Hey... come with us. Don't, don't close yourself in there, ok?"

He took Rafe's hand and tugged him up, heading toward the couch where Max was already sitting.

They all slumped on it, sad and lost.

Magnus was sitting between them; Max cuddled on his left shoulder and Rafe with his head buried in the crook of his neck. He was holding them close to him, with his arms wrapped around their shoulders.

"How?" Rafe blurted out.

"We... I don't know kids. I have to figure out. I tried to track him but... the magic that is keeping him hidden from us, from me, is strong", his voice was brittle, "...a fallen angel...".

"Pa, please..." Max didn't even know what he was pleading for.

"I... I don't know where he is and I don't know how to find him. Boys, I don't know..." he could feel the tears gathering under his closed eyelids.

Rafe pushed his head deeper into his father's neck.

They stayed there in silence for what it seemed like hours until the boys had fallen asleep on Magnus' body.

Magnus, on his part, couldn't sleep.

He felt so lost.

They both knew it, that immortality wasn't a shield against everything.

He untangled himself from the boys and hobbled to their bedroom.

He wanted to try to track Alec one more time. He knew it was useless, but he needed to try again.

He opened the closet and spotted a grey sweater on top of Alec's briefs.

He smiled heartfeltly and sighed.

It was the grey sweater that Alec was wearing the first night they had made love.

It was all stretched out, full of holes on the bottom and its sleeves were too long for having been tugged too much over Alec's hands.

Magnus loved that sweater. It reminded him of that clumsy, shy, eager, fervent, heated up boy he had fallen in love with so many years ago.

A love that had become so deep in a way he could have never imagined.

As he took the sweater in one hand to wave his magic on it, the sleeves unfolded, letting a small object fall on the floor.

It was dark and Magnus couldn't grasp what it was.

He bent down to grab it, tracing its surface with his fingers.

He immediately recognized the wooden carved surface of the small music box and played it.

His heart skipped a beat. He remembered that night clearly.

He had taken Alec to the Mauna Koa, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, an amazing spot to see the stars.

Alec loved stargazing. He had that look of wonder and awe whenever he looked up to the sky.

"They remind me of your eyes, Magnus. That's why I love them so much. But none of them shines as bright as your eyes when you smile", Alec had told him before leaning down and kiss him.

Then Magnus had given him the music box.

Alec had opened it and slowly rotated the handle connected to the metal cylinder.

The music that resonated from the vibrating prongs spread in the air.

The melody was beautiful, tender, and sweet.

"Keep it going" Alec had whispered.

Then he had grabbed Magnus by his waist, entwining his hands on the low of his back and started dancing with him, slowly, their hips barely swaying in a smooth loving movement.

Alec loved dancing with Magnus like that, like two teenagers at their first party, pressing his forehead on Magnus' and whispering loving words to him.

The metallic melody was filling the room as his memories were filling his heart.

"Pa?" Rafe had sneaked into their room.

"Mmm?" Magnus didn't want to speak. Rafe would have noticed he had been crying.

But Rafe was exactly as Alec was. Perceptive. Careful. Tuned to the others' emotions.

He laid one hand on his father's arm to make him slide inside his arms and hugged him.

"I'm seventeen Pa...you don't need to pretend anymore around me... not even around Max..."

Magnus sagged inside his son's embrace. He was so tall and his arms felt so strong around him.

"You've learned from him, haven't you? Watching how attentive he is around me... around us... I'm scared Rafe. I'm so scared."

"I know Pa. We all are."

"And I bet you miss him too", a small voice mumbled behind his back.

Magnus let out a sob as he hugged his son tighter and Max joined them, embracing his father from behind.

"I need to go boys. I have to figure out something..."

The light was starting to pour inside the loft.

They had fallen asleep on the couch, together.

"I'm gonna call Jace or Izzy..."

"Pa? Let us come with you..." Rafe asked him.

"I know we can't be of much help, but...please, let us come with you."

Magnus pondered his son's words and considered his request.

"Ok. You're right. It'll be better even for me if you'll both be there. Let's go then."

Max opened a sea-green portal before Magnus could do that himself. It was rounded and perfectly spiraling inwards.

His father smiled widely.

"You're improving fast, Max."

"I have the best teacher."

\----X----

"Max, Rafe, Magnus..." Jace smiled at them, with a cup of coffee in his hands.

It was obvious that he hadn't slept at all.

"The boys wanted to stay with me."

Magnus tried to sound normal, but the emotion in his voice was still too heavy to go unnoticed.

"Of course, Magnus. By the way, you look like shit."

"Same as you do, Jace".

They smiled in understanding.

"Rafe, Max are you ok?"

_Why did I even ask them?_

The boys nodded.

"Pa told us he tried to track him..."

"...but he had been blasted on the wall" Jace finished off.

"Pa? You said you tried to locate him right?" Max asked out of the blue.

Magnus spun to face his son and nodded. He knew that voice too well.

Max had a thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes were staring a point on the floor and his magic was pouring out from his fingers as it always happened whenever he concentrated on something.

"What are you thinking of, Max?"

"Just...I don't know if..."

"Tell me, Max. We need all the help and the ideas we can gather to find him."

Magnus' voice was confident and reassuring.

Rafe sauntered toward his brother, staring at him.

"Come on blueberry. We all know you have the smartest and most brilliant mind among all us", and he gave him a gentle punch on his arm.

"Ok Pa. I was thinking...Do you remember when we were portalling from Indonesia to Japan?"

"When you two were small kids?"

"...And Dad got lost between the portals because he had misunderstood the town we were traveling to?"

Magnus frowned and tried to recall the events.

"We couldn't track him, locate him. Remember? Then you..."

Magnus' eyes widened in astonishment.

"You're right, Max! I reached him through the love rune. I connected with his feelings and..."

"...and then you found him..." Max was panting.

"I don't know if this can work right now, but...God, Max! Your memory is beyond amazing!"

He patted his son on the cheek lovingly.

"What's this all about?" Jace seemed confused as Magnus started to unbutton his shirt slowly.

When his upper chest was completely exposed, he placed his left hand on the love rune carved right above his heart.

"You... you have a love rune there?" Jace asked.

Magnus' eyes softened as the images of their first wedding night flooded into his mind.

"Alec drew this on me on our wedding night, to match the one I drew on him. After a while, we found out that when we were intensely thinking of one another, it could connect our hearts, our souls even if just for a moment. We hadn't had the chance to use it that much since we are together most of our time."

Jace was stupefied.

"I know, Jace. Never heard about that. Me too." and he smiled.

"Never seen a couple like you two, Magnus", Jace added. "The love you feel for each other is beyond compare."

Max and Rafe's eyes were twinkling.

Magnus closed his eyes and started to pour his magic into the rune.

_Are you thinking of me, my love? As I am thinking of you?_

Then he felt something. Was that a humming?

Alec was humming a melody, a song.

For a moment Magnus relished in the sound of Alec's gentle voice.

Oh, God. Of all the things he could have been doing, Alec was humming.

Wait. That song!

Magnus sprung his eyes open.

His clever, wonderful husband had predicted that Magnus would have searched for his feelings.

Then the connection stopped abruptly and Magnus couldn't reach Alec anymore.

"Pa? Did you?" Rafe could tell from Magnus' eyes that his father had felt something, that he had found something.

"He was humming that song, Rafe. I know where he is."

"Dad was singing?"

"Mmm. The song from the music box. On purpose."

"Does Alec sing?" Jace asked in disbelief.

Rafe looked at Jace giggling.

"He does. A lot. Especially when he and Pa dance alone in the loft or on the balcony at night, when they believe that we are sleeping..."

Magnus looked at him flabbergasted, his heart sweetly melting at the image of their sons spying on them.

"So you two have been...?"

"Yes Pa. Rafe and I love peeking at you two when you dance alone in the living room; those old, slow, and tender love songs. When Dad is so stupidly in love with you that he sings and hums and does all those sappy things you love so much...like declaring how beautiful you are..." Max's voice was full of warmth.

Magnus' eyes filled with tears again.

"You're right, Max. Alec is the sappiest man I've ever known when he's around Magnus". Jace hugged him as he was trying to contain his tears too.

"So... you know where he is?" Jace asked.

"I think so. I think he's in the place where we first danced to that song... where I gave him that small music box."

"Are you saying that Alec was expecting you to try to connect with him?"

"It seems so, yes. Your brother has always been one step ahead. Always" Magnus stated as a matter of fact.

He closed the buttons of his shirt and waved his hand in the air.

"Pa?" - "Magnus?"

"I'm going, alone. No debate on this."

"Magnus..." Jace was right beside him.

"I'm more acquainted with fallen angels and demonic magic than you are Jace", he smirked.

Then he lowered his voice, just for Jace to hear, and added "...and these two will need a family if anything ever happens to me and Alec...you'll be the best father for them, Jace."

Jace swallowed. The words. The idea of them being gone forever. The trust that Magnus had just put in his hands.

He hadn't anything to say back, so he nodded and patted Magnus on his back.

Magnus refocused on his sons.

"Behave, boys, while I'm not here. No stupid ideas or attempts in trying to reach us. Ok?"

Rafe and Max grinned from ear to ear.

"Ok. Super-papa Magnus, bring Dad back."

Magnus laughed. That was how Max used to call him when he was barely able to put some words together.

"I will, boys", and he disappeared into the portal.

\----X----

The air on the peek of the volcano was thin, rarefied, and hardly breathable, as Magnus remembered it.

And the sight was breathtaking as that night.

Now that he knew what kind of magic signature he was searching for, he easily tracked it and followed its lines to the center of the pit.

So that was the entrance of another demon realm.

Magnus waved his hands again and started to slowly rappel down the conduit.

The air was so full of ashes and dust that it had him coughing loudly.

When he wasn't expecting it, he felt a huge undertow drawing him down, sucking him deeper, until he found himself laying on a cold, black, lavic ground.

"Welcome, Asmodeus' heir."

A female voice was speaking from the darkness.

Magnus couldn't see anyone around him.

He got up and removed the dust from his thighs.

"I'm not his heir. I've never been and I've never wanted to be. Who are you and where is my husband?", his voice sourly and shrill.

"Pretty demanding, aren't you? Don't you think you should ask more nicely since you are the one who's missing someone so precious?"

Magnus looked raging into the nothingness.

"I'm not kind and gentle to anyone who has taken what's mine. Is he hurt?

The voice didn't answer him, but Magnus could see a veil raising from the floor.

As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the new shade, he spotted Alec strapped to a wall.

He seemed fine.

"I am Murmur, and you are in the Throne of Secrets, my realm."

"Why him?"

"Isn't he the most outstanding representative among the Nephilims?"

Alec was. Of course he was.

"Besides, you two have made quite the history."

"If I take his memories, I can take possession of all the Nephilim's secrets, of all their centuries-old knowledge, and defeat them. Let me take his memories and then you can have him back."

The laughter that echoed around them was fiendish and terrifying.

"No, I won't let you do that."

Magnus' fingers were surrounded by his red magic.

"Do you think you can threaten me with that? I could rip your magic from you, right now, without you even realizing it, warlock. Do you want to try me?... It would be a fair exchange for his freedom, wouldn't it?"

"Do you think that losing my magic is something that I care more about? I've already been there. Twice. I had traded it to save his brother. And then I gave it back when he couldn't stand to lose me. I already did that for him..."

"I know... and you were broken..."

Magnus closed his eyes. Alec was there, listening to him. He wouldn't have let that pain hurt them anymore.

"What you are not aware of, is that now I know that I can survive without my magic, if I can have him back. When I had my magic and I had lost him, I realized I had nothing without him. Give him back to me and take my magic."

Magnus started to pull his magic out from him, the red and blue strings gathering in a floating bubble.

"Magnus don't..." Alec shouted.

"Alexander, it's ok..."

Magnus was pushing the ball of magic in the direction of the voice.

Then he saw her; a grey lady made of fog and dust.

"Come on, I'm offering this to you, freely and willingly. Asmodeus was able to defeat Lilith when my magic was added to his. Think of all the exceptional and extraordinary things you could do with it", and he delicately landed the magic bubble at her feet.

"I don't want your magic, warlock. I'm not Asmodeus. I want those memories. Or maybe yours. You have lived for centuries and you are his lover. Maybe he has shared with you some of his knowledge."

"No!" Alec shouted again.

"Take my memories. Take all of them."

"So you are willing to forget him. You're not that scared of losing him, aren't you Shadowhunter?"

Alec exhaled and smiled.

"You clearly can't understand what I'm talking about. I'm not scared of losing my memories because I would fall in love with him in every possible life. My heart would find him and love him in every possible universe. It would be him. It would always be him. There would never be anyone else than him. So take them. Take them all. I am ready to fall in love again. And again. And again."

Magnus' hands were trembling.

The demon had been so lost in Alec's words that she hadn't noticed that Magnus was stealthily approaching her.

Careful not to touch the magic bubble on the ground, Magnus pulled out a seraph blade from the back of his belt and lightened it.

The blade sparkled in blue and red.

As soon as the demon captured the lightening, Magnus had already shot the blade directly under the demon's sternum, the swipe shattering her in thousand million black and grey splinters of dust, that seemed like cinders.

The magic that was restraining Alec suddenly disappeared.

He ran to Magnus and stopped right next to him.

"Your magic Magnus, take it back".

Magnus kneeled beside the bubble and pushed one hand inside of it, letting it unfold in blue strings that enwrapped him instantly.

As the magic completely coalesced into Magnus again, Alec threw himself in his arms.

"I missed you", he muttered.

"You found me... you understood... the song... and you killed her. My incredible man! Without any magic. Do you remember when I told you that your power didn't come from your magic, but from your inner strength, which you were overflowing with? You have to believe me now."

Then he took Magnus in his hands and kissed him, with love and passion.

Magnus for a moment lost himself in that kiss, letting Alec's mouth bring him back to the life and the treasure he had been so scared of losing.

Then he gently pulled back, staring at Alec straight into his eyes.

"You're wrong again, my lover man. You are my only power, my one and only shield, the only armor I have ever needed. You, are my strength."

Alec tensed inside his arms then pressed his body against him.

"Do you think we can have a small dance up there before you bring me back?" Alec whispered in his ears, grinding his hips down on Magnus and making him chuckle.

"The boys are waiting for you..."

"Right, the boys. Tonight then? On our balcony? When we'll be alone?"

"Oh! You'll love to know how we had never been..." he laughed and with a blue wave of his hands, he brought his husband back.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me Malec prompts on tumblr at @brightsasstars  
> or send me numbered prompts from this list: https://brightasstars.tumblr.com/post/619981178288619520/fanfiction-trope-mash-up


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